India's crude output to rise this year- Aiyer

NEW DELHI:India's crude output is likely to rise to 34.45 million tons in the fiscal year to March 2006 from 33.98 million tons in the previous year, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer said Tuesday.

He said state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp would spend $824 million on exploration in the year. Smaller state-run exploration firm Oil India Ltd. will spend 5.71 billion rupees on exploration during the year, he said.